[Talk-GB] Tagging "free for first N hours" car parks

[Mark Goodge]

On 18/02/2021 15:58, Michael Collinson wrote:
> In Sweden these are very common, though reasonable fees after the free 
> period. Where the free hour is up to at least two hours, I mark them as 
> fee=no but may make a comment in the description tag. I.e if you are 
> conducting your "normal" business, it is free and effectively a car park 
> with a time limit, (especially if you are a Yorkshireman).

I agree. The intention of these charges is clearly to incentivise people 
to stick to the time limit. From a functional perspective, it's no 
different to a free council car park (or free on-street parking) where 
exceeding the time limit gets you a penalty. It's just that a quirk in 
UK law means that the penalty for exceeding the time limit in a private 
car park has to be couched in terms of a civil contract, which doesn't 
allow the use of the word "penalty". Nonetheless, it's just as valid and 
just as enforceable, and should be mapped in the same way.

The question that a car park user needs to know is "Do I have to pay to 
park here?" and, if so, "How long am I allowed to park before being hit 
with some kind of over-limit penalty?". Tagging as free but with a time 
limit is generally the most appropriate.

Mark